Australian homewares retailer House has opened for business in the UK.
Undeterred by Wesfarmers' disastrous recent entry into UK retail, the 40-year-old company has opened a store in Oxford selling 4,000 items including cookware, kitchen gadgets and small electrical appliances.
It has also launched online and plans to open four more stores before the end of June, with a target of 75 UK stores employing up to 1,000 people within three years.
Executive chairman and chief executive Steven Lew said the rollout will be swift and strategic.
"Physical stores are not dead," Mr Lew said.
"They are only dead if the retailer cannot adapt its model, and landlords and business partners are not willing to work together in their mutual best interests."
House was founded in Australia in 1978 and is now part of the Global Retail Brands group which includes the Robins Kitchen chain.
Wesfarmers entered the UK market when it paid $705 million for Homebase in February 2016 but the poor performance of the hardware venture forced it to make $1 billion of recent writedowns and to put money aside for potential closures.
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